North East Together
North East Together: Leaders Network for Social Change
About
The North East Together Initiative aims to facilitate inspiration, collaboration and mutual support among leaders of social change.
There are many people in the North East working to create social change – people who have recognised social injustice and are seeking to address it by making change within their communities, organisations or the social systems within which we live and work.
Such people are seeking to make change through many different mechanisms. Some work in the public sector, some in the voluntary or private sectors. Some are politicians, others are entrepreneurs. Some work within organisations, others are freelancers. Some are volunteers, others earn their living through promoting change.
All such people are leaders of change. We believe that there is a need for such leaders to learn from one another, and to have opportunities for collective exploration of the important social issues facing the North East.
We think that there are three areas in which it is most important for leaders of social change in the North East to come together:
- Creating, developing and maintaining effective organisations for change – including challenges around entrepreneurship, management and governance.
- Understanding and shaping social policy – how do we understand the complex policy environments we work within, how can we respond to these and nurture a policy environment which enables positive social change? How do we turn the frontline experiences of our organisations into knowledge that shapes policy and practice?
- Collaboration – how can we nurture collaboration and learning within a context which often places us in competition?
This initiative has been developed by Robert Laycock and Marie Mumby in partnership with Toby Lowe and Rob Wilson from Newcastle University Business School with funding and other support from Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.
What the network offers
Inspiration: whole network events
This is a quarterly series of events where leaders can hear from inspirational speakers who provide new insight into social change, and meet one another, and begin to collaborate.
Find out more about our network events.
Collaboration: A platform for self-organising working groups
The Network offers leaders the chance to come together and collaborate on issues that are pressing to them.
The groups are formed during attendance at Whole Network Events and meet regularly to explore and identify solutions to shared issues and opportunities.
Find out more about working groups.
Mutual support: pathways into coaching and coaching practice development
We believe coaching offers individuals, groups and organisations powerful reflective tools, unlocking potential. We are interested in the potential role of coaching within the realm of social change. We provide introductory ‘taster’ workshops in coaching alongside sign-posting to providers of Coaching Practice Development training currently available in the North East region. We are also exploring longer-term partnerships to realise our vision of developing a coaching culture within the Network.
Connect with other network members
Find out about other network members.
Network Events
Find out about Network events.
Upcoming events
View our Upcoming events.
Previous events
26 January 2017 - Leaders Network for Social Change - What does it Take to be a Leader of social change? Guest speaker Louise Drake from Clore Social Leadership.
20 October 2016 - North East Together: Leaders Network for Social Change.
19 May 2016 – Health, Devolution & Social Movements. Hear Alan Higgins' and Nick Dixon's presentation on Health, Devolution & Social Movements.
3 March 2016 – Enterprise and Social Change. Hear Philip Dean's presentation on Enterprise and Social Change.
26 January 2016 – Theme: Social Change is Changing.
11 November 2015 – Leadership Enquiry. Read James Cornford's Leadership Enquiry Presentation (PDF: 839KB). Hear James Cornford's presentation on Leadership Enquiry. Find the resources that the Network members brought with them:
- Time to Think (PDF: 1.19MB)
- North East Mindfulness Courses (PDF: 758KB)
23 September 2015 – Funding Social Change. Read Alex Blake's, Jane Hartley's and Toby Lowe's Funding Social Change Presentation (PDF: 1.57MB) and Funding Social Change Event Report (PDF: 467KB).
9 July 2015 – Collaboration. Read Saul Cozens' and Marie Burns' Collaboration Presentation (PDF: 1.77MB).
5 February 2015 - Delivering Social Change. Hear Erika Rushton's presentation on Delivering Social Change.
6 November 2014 – North East Together launch event. Hear Rick Muir's presentation on The Relational State
Working groups
Find details about our Working Groups.
Newcastle University Business School events
For details of all Newcastle University Business School events, check the Business School's website.
Working Groups
Find out about North East Together working groups and how to get involved.
| Theme/Topic | Activity planned | To get involved contact |
|---|---|---|
| Collaboration | Free quarterly events exploring collaboration experiences, skills, behaviours, systems & feelings |
Stephanie Cole |
| Funding Social Change |
Free quarterly events exploring the dynamics, challenges & opportunities of funding for social change organisations, projects & initiatives – now & in the future |
Alex Blake |
| Leadership | A series of free networking events connecting leaders of social change |
Carol Botten |
|
Governance |
A multi-disciplinary group developing new initiatives to strengthen governance in the not-for-profit sector across the North East |
Robert Laycock |
| Theme/Topic | To get involved contact |
|---|---|
| How to create a common sense of meaning between different parts of society |
Co-ordinator: Marcus Jenal |
| Understanding how hope can affect communities and places |
Co-ordinator: Dave Webb |
| Operation Operations (Developing a network of operational leaders within VCS organisations) |
Co-ordinator: Angela Goodfellow |
|
Caffe Infomatica (Digital working group) |
Co-ordinator: Lou Wilson |
|
"Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME): Untold Suffering" (An initiative to help newly diagnosed ME patients) |
Co-ordinator: Heather Mundill |
These groups are just the start. If you want to form further groups, there will be opportunities to do so at future network events. Also, if you want to form a working group digitally, you can do so by emailing the members list.
Connect with members
Connect with members
Network members can connect and collaborate with each other via LinkedIn.
For further information about joining our LinkedIn group read our How to join the Digital Leaders Group on LinkedIn (PDF: 336KB).
If you would like a list of all email addresses of members who have agreed to share them, or would like to confirm you are happy to share yours, please contact Ross Wilson.